The Wildling Museum offers visitors a unique perspective on the importance of preserving our natural heritage.

Current Art Exhibits

One collector, David Parker, is sharing his Ray Strong paintings with us, as well as his stories of how he built his collection of over thirty pieces. Sponsored by Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation and Donors to the Patti Jacquemain Exhibition Fund.

Permanent Exhibits

A Mighty Oak by John Iwerks

A Mighty Oak

2nd Floor Gallery

A permanent wall mural in our 2nd floor gallery that depicts the habitat around a Valley oak–one of the largest and old trees found in our area! Video and components enhance the mural. It’s a beautiful way to learn about the Santa Barbara County, see our educational materials.

Patti Jacquemain Mosaic

Local Wildlife Mosaics

2nd Floor Gallery

Eight handcrafted mosaics by artist and museum founder Patti Jacquemain illustrate local wildlife. They are a delightful way to learn more about the natural world around us in Santa Barbara County and beyond!

upcoming art exhibits

Deadline for Entries:Thursday, Monday, May 20, 2019, on www.callforentry.org, Applications close at 11:59 PM in Mountain Time Zone (Denver, CO, USA) on the deadline date.

The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to announce its second juried exhibition – “Celebrating the National Lands of California” – a showcase of fine art inspired by National Parks, Monuments, Preserves, and Recreation Areas located within the state of California.

This show features work from the Abstract Art Collective (AAC), a Santa Barbara community-based group of artists. Abstract art challenges the artist and audience to mine the depths of emotion and intellect—to journey far from real-world imagery and into the imagination. In this exhibit, you will see the artists’ response to various aspects of nature experiences—responses they’ve chosen to share.

Photographers were encouraged to capture examples of nature’s magical ability to regenerate and thrive. All the images from both the adult and junior categories were exhibited together, on the second floor, in our Valley Oak Gallery from August 4th 2018 through November 5th 2018.

Nature Imagined was a special exhibition that celebrated nature through the vivid imaginations of Cheryl Medow, Ellen Jewett, and Hilary Brace. Inspired by nature, these artists use diverse materials and methods to create environments that engage the imagination. The viewer was invited to look into the details of their artwork and explore the unique weaving of image, texture, and pattern that resembles nature and yet is unlike anything in the natural world.

Three artists shared their unique artistic perspectives of bird species that can be found in the tri-county region (Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Louis Obispo). Jim Hodgson, René C. Reyes, and George Lockwood shared artworks of their tributes to our local feathered friends. During the exhibition, there were birding lectures and excursions to expand the viewer’s knowledge of local birds. Santa Barbara County and the overall region is renowned for bird species diversity and is a hotspot for birders with the central coast a stop along the migratory Pacific Flyway.

The Wildling partnered with the Yellowstone Art Museum for this unique exhibition of the modernist Western landscapes of Theodore Waddell (b. 1941) and those of his former teacher Isabelle Johnson (1901 - 1992). Waddell has become renowned for his own modernist perspective on western landscapes which have an unromanticized view of ranching life and wild landscapes in big sky country. The exhibition included a range of artworks from both artists to illustrate the evolution of each, as well as the ways in which Johnson made an indelible imprint on Waddell.

This show featured more than 20 prints of the tri-counties area (Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura) taken from the air. At least three-quarters of the photographs were recent works which had never been exhibited before, including reflection of an orange sun through the smoke from the Whittier Fire, a view of last spring’s super bloom of wildflowers at the Carrizo Plain, and winter storm clouds over Rincon Point.

Six artists joined together, aligned around the lesser-known medium of gouache (an opaque watercolor pronounced "gwash"), to tell the story and challenges of the Santa Ynez River and Watershed. Locally, we have all been touched in some manner by the long-term and continuing drought in the Santa Barbara region. While somewhat relieved by the winter rains of 2016/2017, the drought likely will be continuing and as of January 2018 Lake Cachuma, which provides water for Santa Barbara and other communities, is already under 39% capacity and dropping.

From their bark and leaves to their ecosystems and inhabitants, each tree is unique. The tri-counties (Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County) are home to a diverse range of tree species that make our landscape beautiful. For our 2017 Nature Photography Competition we asked photographers to explore the life cycle of trees, those who call it home, the threats they face, and their individuality.

One could travel through the alphabet when the Wildling showcased a diverse artistic representation of animal species from African saddlebills to zebras and everything in between. The artworks ranged from realistic to abstract and represented many different mediums.

The Wildling Museum of Art & Nature presented its newest exhibition Private Collections of the Santa Barbara Region, comprised of artworks borrowed from the private collections of its members. Visitors were able to experience artworks that were not on public display, and they will got an inside look into how and why collectors choose their pieces.

From bowls and urns made on a lathe to fine handcrafted furniture, this exhibition has amazing examples of what can be created from local and exotic wood. View a breathtaking 1853 rosewood piano has been repurposed with extreme creativity by Ken Frye into a breathtaking cabinet intermingled with bowls made from a tree that once stood on 2nd Street in Solvang. Explore the exhibit and learn about woodworking methods and interesting facts about wood.

As a fascinating counterpoint to our woodworkers exhibition, we presented the photography of David Paul Bayles. "David Paul Bayles left Los Angeles in the mid seventies for the Sierra Nevada mountains to work one season as a logger. He fell in love with the physicality, the camaraderie and the dangerous work. One season became four as he worked setting chokers, bumping knots and skinning cat. To this day he struggles to answer how he could love trees and forests even as he loved the work that brought them down.

The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature has a small and diverse permanent art collection. The works in this exhibition are the majority of our painting collection with a few of our special prints included. Almost all of the works were received as gifts, for which we are very grateful. Works date from as early as 1918 to the 2010s and represent sweeping vistas like Henry Breuer’s large panoramic painting to more intimate moments, like Ray Strong’s small canvas of a flowering plum tree.

The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature and the Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment (SCAPE) presented Places of the Heart, a juried exhibition and sale celebrating treasured places in the tri-county area. Guided by input from the community, members of SCAPE painted in locations through the San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. The plein air works showcased the amazing natural features of our region and the talent of the SCAPE artists.

Answering the call to artists, over 100 entries were received in response to 2016's theme of Where Land Meets Water. The judges carefully selected the top works to create an exhibition displaying a wide range of interpretations of the theme. From puddles to ice to the ocean, the photographers found amazing examples of the connection of land and water.

Celebrating the National Parks of California explored nine national parks located within the state of California through a juried exhibition: Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Redwood, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Lassen, Pinnacles, Death Valley and Channel Islands (there are a total of 27 monuments, parks, seashores and more administered and preserved by the National Park Service. The show celebrated and discussed wilderness, nature and preservation of the parks and provided an opportunity for artists to display and sell their work. Fifty-one artworks in a wide range of mediums and styles were included in the diverse show .

Karen Sinsheimer at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, this exhibition was a tribute to Karen’s skills and legacy as a curator of photography as well as her volunteer efforts to the Wildling Museum in the capacity of a long-time exhibitions and art committee member.Karen’s discerning eye helped to amass an important collection of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, an amazing legacy for the greater Santa Barbara community and she helped the Wildling find artists for exhibitions and the permanent collection.

Dr. F.G. Hochberg has been printing natural subjects for over 45 years. Eric’s studies capture and isolate in space the elegant and delicate beauty of nature. The works presented here have been selected to demonstrate a wide range of subjects and techniques used to create images of nature. Shane & Genny Anderson were first introduced to the art of nature printing when they took a workshop from Eric Hochberg at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Since then, they both have been captivated with the art form.

This Wildling curated exhibition explored the changing landscape of the tri-county area (Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo) through both historic and contemporary artwork. The Santa Barbara Region is beautiful, historic, and ever changing. Artists have been recording it for decades–some use their work to inspire a conservation ethic in hopes that specific open spaces will be preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Every year the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum hosts a juried competition of the finest bird art in the world. After they debut the final selections at the Woodson Art Museum in September, they begin traveling the show for the next year. In 2014, we hosted Birds in Art. The artwork was amazingly diverse: sculpture, watercolor, acrylic, block prints, and oil were all included.

Ray Strong was born in 1905 in Corvallis, Oregon. His long life spanned 101 years and so he saw tremendous technological and societal changes during his lifetime, but he never strayed far or long from his commitment to painting the landscape and in so doing recorded our natural heritage like almost no one else in our region.

Richard Salas is a California native with a lifelong passion for diving and the underwater world. A graduate from Brooks Institute of Photography, he was mentored by Ernest Brooks II. In this show you swam along with Salas as he traveled from the Equator to Alaska visiting the creatures that call the Pacific Ocean home.

The Wildling Museum collaborated with Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary to produce an exhibition of the art of wild horses, and celebrating the wild spirit in all horses. The exhibition featured historic and contemporary art of horses in a variety of mediums: paintings, drawings, mosaics, photographs, sculptures, and prints. Both local and nationally regarded artists were featured in this unique exhibition.

Charley Harper infused much of his work with a delightful sense of humor, and although he reduced animal forms to abstracted, geometric shapes, he never lost the essence of whichever species he was highlighting. His simplified forms and bold color belied his careful study of animals. Not only did the show feature 30 of his amazing artworks, but also several hands-on, interactive stations were included, which made this a very family friendly show!

Jeff Jones’s love for and understanding of the natural world, coupled with decades of experience in remote back country and wild places, form the foundation for his exceptional landscape photography. His highly detailed large-scale panoramic images combine a compelling sense of place with an immediacy of experience. Jeff’s work opens up for us a world not of our making and far greater than our own creations.

The Wildling organized this exciting show celebrating art's role in helping to bring attention to the natural treasures of the West. Artist John Fery was a prolific painter of the wilderness, in part due to his commissions for the the Great Northern Railway (GNR). He painted over 300 canvases during his time with GNR.

Selections by D. L. Engle explores the sculpture of North American native fauna created by Southern California artist D.L. Engle. The exhibition of animal sculptures includes “Puma Ways”, a beautiful bronze mountain lion in the Wildling’s permanent collection. Engle’s sculptures are characterized by an expressive emotional quality and powerful presence.

As part of our celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the Wildling featured its collection of artworks by Everett Ruess (1914 – 1934?). Everett was raised in Los Angeles and was taught how to make linoleum block prints by his mother, Stella. At a young age he felt a strong calling to be in and explore the wild. He spent the last four years of his brief life exploring wilderness areas along the California coast, in Yosemite and the deserts and canyons of northern Arizona and southern Utah.

Thomas Paquette's paintings in On Nature's Terms were inspired by his journeys to federal wilderness areas all across the country. The great diversity and vitality of environments that comprise the National Wilderness Preservation System – from southwest canyons and high peaks, east and west seashores, to lowland swamps and deserts – are reflected in these gouache and oil paintings.